BEVERLY HILLBILLIES 50th Anniversary September 26th!!

[Lucyilove]

But that's a problem, i just finished season three and now i have nothing more to watch of the show.

Yes, CBS/Paramount has really treated the Hillbillies like poor relations not releasing season one because they didn't want to sell a full price set with so many public domain dvds of these episodes around and then stopping the sets after season three. I'm glad they didn't make those same decisions for THE LUCY SHOW releases though Lucy obviously has more of a latterday market than The Hillbillies (nevertheless the complete series of TBH is one of the few pre-1980 sitcoms still widely rerun on television).

[PasadenaTrenton]

.

 

There's also another great sitcom having a 50th anniversary a few days later but I will leave that to the powers that be here to lead that parade.

 

 

Yes, I am saddened that there is nothing being done about the 50th anniversary of this program. Haven't even seen it mentioned anywhere. Although I have some great photos from the Paramount lot of these two shows' casts frolicking in the pool together!

[mickie]

But that's a problem, i just finished season three and now i have nothing more to watch of the show.

 

I know since CBS stopped after Season 3. Maybe one day it will continue or maybe some company like Shout Factory would continue the releases. That is if CBS/Paramount would lease the rights

[C L A U D E]

Yes, CBS/Paramount has really treated the Hillbillies like poor relations not releasing season one because they didn't want to sell a full price set with so many public domain dvds of these episodes around and then stopping the sets after season three. I'm glad they didn't make those same decisions for THE LUCY SHOW releases though Lucy obviously has more of a latterday market than The Hillbillies (nevertheless the complete series of TBH is one of the few pre-1980 sitcoms still widely rerun on television).

I still say The Lucy show, Hillbillies AND Andy Griffith were shabily treated considering all three were monster hits in the '60s.

[C L A U D E]

I know since CBS stopped after Season 3. Maybe one day it will continue or maybe some company like Shout Factory would continue the releases. That is if CBS/Paramount would lease the rights

Stopping so soon is just ridiculous, they did the same thing to me with Mad About You, another HIT show that lasted very long.

[C L A U D E]

I watched the latter quoted episode "Back to Californy" the other night and I got the setup line to the gas gag wrong, no doubt misremembering it via Granny's earlier travails. Pearl actually comments she should have brought her coal oil stove which leads to Granny's response and Pearl's conclusion. It is one of the very best episodes in the series and Granny and Pearl could have taught Alexis and Krystal a thing or two about how to bitch fight! Funny though how the Hillbillies were always so backwards even years into the show but here they were just three months or so after the premiere and showing Pearl and Jethrine how everything is done like a veteran and who can forget the sight of Granny returning home in a mink coat, probably the only one she ever wore in the run of the show.

I love this show, never tire of it, it's a part of my youth, although I DO remember that the end seasons weren't as good, they were so exaggerated, men in money suits type of humor which i never liked.

[mickie]

Stopping so soon is just ridiculous, they did the same thing to me with Mad About You, another HIT show that lasted very long.

Really – that did that with Mad About You too. What season did it stop at and when did it stop?

[C L A U D E]

Really – that did that with Mad About You too. What season did it stop at and when did it stop?

I have Mad about You's First and Second seasons and then that was it for the longest time, then finally, years later, season three came out, and i guess because they did not sell well, they came out with a Here's Lucy like BEST OF Collection, but in the past few months i finally saw season four out there, again years later. The thing is this show was incredibly popular at one time, the stars were each paid a million dollars an episode in it's final year, just like other BIG HITS like Friends. Carol Burnett plays the mom at the end so i desperately want to see those, Carol was to this show what Sue Ann Nivens aka Betty White was to Mary Tyler Moore, they made the shows so much better and funnier. But season four of Mad about You is very pricy so i haven't picked it up yet, same as i did with Mary Tyler Moore, i stopped at season four for that one, and may buy them later, but i don't even watch the reruns and they air here daily, so part of me thinks i could just record them as they air, the way we used to in the olden days.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Really – that did that with Mad About You too. What season did it stop at and when did it stop?

 

Shout! picked up releasing MAY after good old Sony gave up on it with the last issue the 5th Season about two years ago. With only 2 seasons to go, it'd be nice if they'd go ahead and complete it already, but who knows? Seems like they'd have cranked them out by now.

 

All the Paul Henning shows (BH, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres) have had shabby treatment with respect to their DVD releases, and am not sure why, but it gives three more good examples of why I wish these "classic", long gone shows would be released ONLY as a complete series box set, even if only a limited number of sets are produced, especially if it keeps costs down.

 

MGM Home VIdeo has released only 3 of 6 seasons of Acres; PJ and BH both had their "official" (not public domain crap) releases begin on MPI (like Here's Lucy), with "Ultimate Collection" releases for each (PJ, one; BH two) and then more recently, CBS/Paramount released season sets of each but get this: starting with Season 2 for BH since most of Season 1 was already released on the two MPI "Ultimate Collection"s -- got that? Except for the Christmas episodes, which ended up being put on a separate, special Christmas "collection" release with one from PJ! Whew!

 

As for PJ, they had only one "Ultimate Collection" by MPI and "Offiicial" Seasons 1 & 2 on CBS/Paramount and there they remain stalled. Pity.

 

Let's have our hicks, CBS! Come on!

[Neil]

I have Mad about You's First and Second seasons and then that was it for the longest time, then finally, years later, season three came out, and i guess because they did not sell well, they came out with a Here's Lucy like BEST OF Collection, but in the past few months i finally saw season four out there, again years later. The thing is this show was incredibly popular at one time, the stars were each paid a million dollars an episode in it's final year, just like other BIG HITS like Friends. Carol Burnett plays the mom at the end so i desperately want to see those, Carol was to this show what Sue Ann Nivens aka Betty White was to Mary Tyler Moore, they made the shows so much better and funnier. But season four of Mad about You is very pricy so i haven't picked it up yet, same as i did with Mary Tyler Moore, i stopped at season four for that one, and may buy them later, but i don't even watch the reruns and they air here daily, so part of me thinks i could just record them as they air, the way we used to in the olden days.

 

When MPI acquires a series, they seem to be committing to release the entire run season by season regardless of sales. How else can you explain the entire 5 seasons of "the Doris Day Show", each including Class-A extras? Unless sales were brisker than I think.

 

Remember the short-end-of-stick release of "Mary Tyler Moore". Season 1 sales were so bad that it was a LONG time before there was a season 2. Subsequent seasons were released with no extras whatsoever. They must have thought MTM would be a big seller because I think season one was priced VERY high ($100?). (Wasn't season 1 of ILL also $100 initially.) For a series as revered as MTM, it didn't do well in syndication. In fact none of the MTM product did.

 

It seems that since the 80s, shows that were hits do not necessarily have much of an afterlife. Local stations paid enormous amounts for the syndication rights to "the Cosby Show" which did surprisingly bad. Our local station ran two episodes back to back from 6 to 7 and before long it was down to one...at 1:30am. "Murphy Brown" went into syndication and sputtered out quickly even before the network run was finished.

 

There were examples of this earlier too. I don't remember much of a run for "the Danny Thomas Show". Here's Lucy made the mistake of waiting 7 years before going into syndication. Does anyone know the reasoning for this?

 

Then there were the shows that performed better in syndication that the network run: Gilligan's Island only ran 3 seasons. "Topper" with only 2 seasons of original episodes (1953-55) was still being shown in Portland in 1966! And of course there's the "star Trek" phenomenon.

 

I don't know if "Golden Girls" ever went into general syndication, but (thankfully) they seemed to have found a permanent home on Lifetime. While other Lifetime shows come and go ("Will&Grace" "Frazier") GG goes on and on.

[mickie]

Me-TV is honoring the Hillbillies with a marathon this Sunday starting at 3pm - a 50th anniversary, this could be bigger than Possum Day....

[C L A U D E]

Me-TV is honoring the Hillbillies with a marathon this Sunday starting at 3pm - a 50th anniversary, this could be bigger than Possum Day....

Now THAT's funny!

[C L A U D E]

Shout! picked up releasing MAY after good old Sony gave up on it with the last issue the 5th Season about two years ago. With only 2 seasons to go, it'd be nice if they'd go ahead and complete it already, but who knows? Seems like they'd have cranked them out by now.

 

All the Paul Henning shows (BH, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres) have had shabby treatment with respect to their DVD releases, and am not sure why, but it gives three more good examples of why I wish these "classic", long gone shows would be released ONLY as a complete series box set, even if only a limited number of sets are produced, especially if it keeps costs down.

 

MGM Home VIdeo has released only 3 of 6 seasons of Acres; PJ and BH both had their "official" (not public domain crap) releases begin on MPI (like Here's Lucy), with "Ultimate Collection" releases for each (PJ, one; BH two) and then more recently, CBS/Paramount released season sets of each but get this: starting with Season 2 for BH since most of Season 1 was already released on the two MPI "Ultimate Collection"s -- got that? Except for the Christmas episodes, which ended up being put on a separate, special Christmas "collection" release with one from PJ! Whew!

 

As for PJ, they had only one "Ultimate Collection" by MPI and "Offiicial" Seasons 1 & 2 on CBS/Paramount and there they remain stalled. Pity.

 

Let's have our hicks, CBS! Come on!

So, you're saying my Special Volumes one and two of Hillbillies aren't even complete seasons, man, that makes me mad! I wouldn't mind getting Green Acres, but Petticoat i'd never get, only the little dog was funny on that one.

[C L A U D E]

When MPI acquires a series, they seem to be committing to release the entire run season by season regardless of sales. How else can you explain the entire 5 seasons of "the Doris Day Show", each including Class-A extras? Unless sales were brisker than I think.

NOT INTERESTED, NOT THAT GREAT A SERIES, ONLY DORIS AND KAYE BALLARD WORTH BUYING IT FOR.

Remember the short-end-of-stick release of "Mary Tyler Moore". Season 1 sales were so bad that it was a LONG time before there was a season 2. Subsequent seasons were released with no extras whatsoever. They must have thought MTM would be a big seller because I think season one was priced VERY high ($100?). (Wasn't season 1 of ILL also $100 initially.) For a series as revered as MTM, it didn't do well in syndication. In fact none of the MTM product did.

YEAH, THAT'S WHY I NEVER WENT BACK FOR SEASONS 5 THRU 7 OF MARY TYLER MOORE, MUCH TOO SPENSIVE!

It seems that since the 80s, shows that were hits do not necessarily have much of an afterlife. Local stations paid enormous amounts for the syndication rights to "the Cosby Show" which did surprisingly bad. Our local station ran two episodes back to back from 6 to 7 and before long it was down to one...at 1:30am. "Murphy Brown" went into syndication and sputtered out quickly even before the network run was finished.

THE COSBY SHOW DID BADLY CAUSE IT WAS A BAD SHOW, WHEN WAS THAT SHOW EVER FUNNY? WHEN THEY LIP SYNCHED TO SONGS, PERIOD!

There were examples of this earlier too. I don't remember much of a run for "the Danny Thomas Show". Here's Lucy made the mistake of waiting 7 years before going into syndication. Does anyone know the reasoning for this?

DANNY THOMAS ALSO ALWAYS GOT THE SHORT END OF THE STICK SYNDICATION WISE, SURPRISING FOR SOMEONE WHO MADE GAZILLIONS IN SYNDICATION OF OTHER SHOWS HE PRODUCED.

Then there were the shows that performed better in syndication that the network run: Gilligan's Island only ran 3 seasons. "Topper" with only 2 seasons of original episodes (1953-55) was still being shown in Portland in 1966! And of course there's the "star Trek" phenomenon.

STAR TREK IS IN A CLASS ALL BY ITSELF, THOSE NERDS CAME MAKE OR BREAK ANY HOLLYWOOD PRODUCT.

I don't know if "Golden Girls" ever went into general syndication, but (thankfully) they seemed to have found a permanent home on Lifetime. While other Lifetime shows come and go ("Will&Grace" "Frazier") GG goes on and on.

YES, GOLDEN GIRLS IS IN SYNDICATION NOW, WE GET IT ALL THE TIME HERE IN CANADA, BUT THAT'S ONE I GOT COMPLETE ANYWAY. And they're not all hilarious when looking back. Another example of the actors being better than the show. The rest of my comments are in caps after each Neil statement, Brock, still cannot position anything in larger font except at the beginning of the thread.

[Lucyilove]

Shout! picked up releasing MAY after good old Sony gave up on it with the last issue the 5th Season about two years ago. With only 2 seasons to go, it'd be nice if they'd go ahead and complete it already, but who knows? Seems like they'd have cranked them out by now.

 

All the Paul Henning shows (BH, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres) have had shabby treatment with respect to their DVD releases, and am not sure why, but it gives three more good examples of why I wish these "classic", long gone shows would be released ONLY as a complete series box set, even if only a limited number of sets are produced, especially if it keeps costs down.

 

MGM Home VIdeo has released only 3 of 6 seasons of Acres; PJ and BH both had their "official" (not public domain crap) releases begin on MPI (like Here's Lucy), with "Ultimate Collection" releases for each (PJ, one; BH two) and then more recently, CBS/Paramount released season sets of each but get this: starting with Season 2 for BH since most of Season 1 was already released on the two MPI "Ultimate Collection"s -- got that? Except for the Christmas episodes, which ended up being put on a separate, special Christmas "collection" release with one from PJ! Whew!

 

As for PJ, they had only one "Ultimate Collection" by MPI and "Offiicial" Seasons 1 & 2 on CBS/Paramount and there they remain stalled. Pity.

 

Let's have our hicks, CBS! Come on!

From what I understand, apparently the MPI "Ultimate Collections" of BH and PJ are simply Paul Hennings' personal archive copies of episodes in public domain, thus MPI went to Hennings' estate and daughter Linda (Kaye) Henning (of PJ fame), allowing them to use the original theme song composed by Henning which isn't on the other pd editions but MPI had no access to negatives and master prints since CBS/Paramount has those, all the more reason for CBS/P to have released season one of BH. From what I've heard the prints in the Hennings approved sets aren't that much better than the pd copies (my local library has them but I only checked them out to watch the bonus features since I already had these episodes on pd editions or off the air though I did watch a couple of episodes but this was years ago so I can't remember what the quality was like.) Still want to buy the sets eventually if only to have my own copies of Granny and company extolling the virtues of Corn Flakes and Winston cigarettes.

[Lucyilove]

When MPI acquires a series, they seem to be committing to release the entire run season by season regardless of sales. How else can you explain the entire 5 seasons of "the Doris Day Show", each including Class-A extras? Unless sales were brisker than I think.

 

Remember the short-end-of-stick release of "Mary Tyler Moore". Season 1 sales were so bad that it was a LONG time before there was a season 2. Subsequent seasons were released with no extras whatsoever. They must have thought MTM would be a big seller because I think season one was priced VERY high ($100?). (Wasn't season 1 of ILL also $100 initially.) For a series as revered as MTM, it didn't do well in syndication. In fact none of the MTM product did.

 

It seems that since the 80s, shows that were hits do not necessarily have much of an afterlife. Local stations paid enormous amounts for the syndication rights to "the Cosby Show" which did surprisingly bad. Our local station ran two episodes back to back from 6 to 7 and before long it was down to one...at 1:30am. "Murphy Brown" went into syndication and sputtered out quickly even before the network run was finished.

 

There were examples of this earlier too. I don't remember much of a run for "the Danny Thomas Show". Here's Lucy made the mistake of waiting 7 years before going into syndication. Does anyone know the reasoning for this?

 

Then there were the shows that performed better in syndication that the network run: Gilligan's Island only ran 3 seasons. "Topper" with only 2 seasons of original episodes (1953-55) was still being shown in Portland in 1966! And of course there's the "star Trek" phenomenon.

 

I don't know if "Golden Girls" ever went into general syndication, but (thankfully) they seemed to have found a permanent home on Lifetime. While other Lifetime shows come and go ("Will&Grace" "Frazier") GG goes on and on.

 

Well, Doris Day is hugely popular, nearly all of her movies are on dvd and nearly all of her recordings are on cd, she's got a big fan following if not quite on Lucy and Marilyn levels. I can certainly understand why they released all the seasons which have sold very well and much more than MPI expected from what I've read in Day books and websites. It was a light, pleasant show especially in the early years and I own the first three seasons (did not like the seasons four and five where the show went into the TZ with her kids no longer existing and a completely new staff at the magazine.)

 

I vaguely recall reruns of Danny Thomas in the very late 60's and very early 70's (and I've read on the net where it reran for years in the 60's on Saturday mornings alongside all those cartoons but I never liked it much so didn't watch and it appears that it didn't have "legs" in the 70's like Lucy, BH, Gilligan, Munsters, and Danny's previous "rerun" slot was gobbled by newer sitcoms much like Petticoat Junction disappeared by the late 70's on local channels to make room for "Happy Days", "Laverne and Shirley" etc. in reruns.

[Neil]

I can certainly understand why they released all the seasons which have sold very well and much more than MPI expected from what I've read in Day books and websites.

 

I vaguely recall reruns of Danny Thomas in the very late 60's and very early 70's (and I've read on the net where it reran for years in the 60's on Saturday mornings alongside all those cartoons but I never liked it much so didn't watch and it appears that it didn't have "legs" in the 70's like Lucy, BH, Gilligan, Munsters, and Danny's previous "rerun" slot was gobbled by newer sitcoms much like Petticoat Junction disappeared by the late 70's on local channels to make room for "Happy Days", "Laverne and Shirley" etc. in reruns.

 

I did not know The Doris Day Show sold well. I would have thought only the Doris Day-philes would have purchased all 5 seasons. It was such a frothy pastiche of a show and was not stellar Doris.

 

Interesting that Danny Thomas network daytime run was not on CBS or ABC where it spend its first 4 seasons, but NBC..Why they would run a show like that, with very little kid appeal on Saturday morning is a mystery. I don't know how long it ran there, but the weekday reruns lasted a respectable 5 years, running simultaneous to CBS's new episodes but under the "Make Room for Daddy" title.

 

Many of these shows might have had a better syndication life had they been in color. The only sitcoms that were done in color pre-1966 were on NBC, a network not known for great comedy. (not counting The Lucy Show being filmed in color but before 1965 shown in bw only). Most switched to color in 1965, but several that were well into their runs continued in b/w that season: The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Patty Duke Show.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

I did not know The Doris Day Show sold well. I would have thought only the Doris Day-philes would have purchased all 5 seasons. It was such a frothy pastiche of a show and was not stellar Doris.

 

Interesting that Danny Thomas network daytime run was not on CBS or ABC where it spend its first 4 seasons, but NBC..Why they would run a show like that, with very little kid appeal on Saturday morning is a mystery. I don't know how long it ran there, but the weekday reruns lasted a respectable 5 years, running simultaneous to CBS's new episodes but under the "Make Room for Daddy" title.

 

Many of these shows might have had a better syndication life had they been in color. The only sitcoms that were done in color pre-1966 were on NBC, a network not known for great comedy. (not counting The Lucy Show being filmed in color but before 1965 shown in bw only). Most switched to color in 1965, but several that were well into their runs continued in b/w that season: The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Patty Duke Show.

 

Actually (having lived through it!) I'd say it was most switched, or switched by or began to film & broadcast in color for the 1966-67 season (i.e. Bewitched, Jeannie, That Girl, etc.) Of course Hazel was an exception, which had filmed and broadcast in color since it's second season (1962-63) since it was on NBC (until it's 5th season when it went to CBS), owned by RCA who was pushing sales of color sets by having as much programming as possible early on broadcast in color.

Hazel even had a clever 1st season (1961-62) episode -- sole one that black & white season -- which was shot in color and concerned her purchase of "one of those new color TVs" for her room! Like Hazel herself, not exactly subtle!

 

(Wow - rereading this, made me realize had Dick Van Dyke run on NBC, most of its run would have been shot in color too! Where's Mr. Peabody's Wayback Time Machine when you need it!!?)

[tjw]

 

 

Here's Lucy made the mistake of waiting 7 years before going into syndication. Does anyone know the reasoning for this?

 

 

 

I think the reasoning behind waiting was caused by the fact that both "I Love Lucy" and "The Lucy Show" were both still very active in syndication -- they even aired opposite each other at the same time in some markets! -- and everyone advised that having a third "Lucy" series vying for attention at the same time would be overkill...

 

But you are correct: seven years was a bit TOOOO long to wait!

[C L A U D E]

From what I understand, apparently the MPI "Ultimate Collections" of BH and PJ are simply Paul Hennings' personal archive copies of episodes in public domain, thus MPI went to Hennings' estate and daughter Linda (Kaye) Henning (of PJ fame), allowing them to use the original theme song composed by Henning which isn't on the other pd editions but MPI had no access to negatives and master prints since CBS/Paramount has those, all the more reason for CBS/P to have released season one of BH. From what I've heard the prints in the Hennings approved sets aren't that much better than the pd copies (my local library has them but I only checked them out to watch the bonus features since I already had these episodes on pd editions or off the air though I did watch a couple of episodes but this was years ago so I can't remember what the quality was like.) Still want to buy the sets eventually if only to have my own copies of Granny and company extolling the virtues of Corn Flakes and Winston cigarettes.

Yeah, seeing as you've been mentioning those Public Domain ones a lot, i saw them today at HMV for the very first time, 40 episodes in a beautiful metal casing, and i got them for only $10.00 for all four discs.

[C L A U D E]

I did not know The Doris Day Show sold well. I would have thought only the Doris Day-philes would have purchased all 5 seasons. It was such a frothy pastiche of a show and was not stellar Doris.

 

Interesting that Danny Thomas network daytime run was not on CBS or ABC where it spend its first 4 seasons, but NBC..Why they would run a show like that, with very little kid appeal on Saturday morning is a mystery. I don't know how long it ran there, but the weekday reruns lasted a respectable 5 years, running simultaneous to CBS's new episodes but under the "Make Room for Daddy" title.

 

Many of these shows might have had a better syndication life had they been in color. The only sitcoms that were done in color pre-1966 were on NBC, a network not known for great comedy. (not counting The Lucy Show being filmed in color but before 1965 shown in bw only). Most switched to color in 1965, but several that were well into their runs continued in b/w that season: The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Patty Duke Show.

I didn't buy the Doris Day show for that simple reason, wasn't that great, i'm a fan of hers, many of her movies and her music of course but not that so so show. The appeal of Danny Thomas might have been that the two youngest kids brought in the younger fans who would be into cartoon shows, they were smart aleck type kids with some great lines on the show.

[C L A U D E]

Like Hazel herself, not exactly subtle! LOL!

 

(Wow - rereading this, made me realize had Dick Van Dyke run on NBC, most of its run would have been shot in color too! Where's Mr. Peabody's Wayback Time Machine when you need it!!?)

I used to love Mr Peabody and the kid, i forget his name, that for me was the best part of Rocky and Bullwinkle's show. One of the few cartoon shows i ever watched as a kid, along with Mighty Mouse, and Bugs Bunny Road runner of course. Oh and the Jetsons too.

[C L A U D E]

I think the reasoning behind waiting was caused by the fact that both "I Love Lucy" and "The Lucy Show" were both still very active in syndication -- they even aired opposite each other at the same time in some markets! -- and everyone advised that having a third "Lucy" series vying for attention at the same time would be overkill...

 

But you are correct: seven years was a bit TOOOO long to wait!

It must have lowered the price they got for it also. The one time the money would go to her on top of that.

[Lucyilove]

Yeah, seeing as you've been mentioning those Public Domain ones a lot, i saw them today at HMV for the very first time, 40 episodes in a beautiful metal casing, and i got them for only $10.00 for all four discs.

Yes, some of those pd makers are smart enough to put the stuff in nice packaging that will make us want that if not their imperfect dvds. One of these days I'm going to buy that pd LUCY SHOW set that comes in the lunchbox just for the lunchbox.

[C L A U D E]

Yes, some of those pd makers are smart enough to put the stuff in nice packaging that will make us want that if not their imperfect dvds. One of these days I'm going to buy that pd LUCY SHOW set that comes in the lunchbox just for the lunchbox.

Oh i GOT that one, gave it to the hotel owner here for his daughter. Isn't it NICE? What a great idea and such a low price too! I figured i would introduce the kid to a great show, LOL!